Dear Rob: It certainly seems that you have well described the
considerations.

Our houses tend to be farther apart, and low cost wins over potential
ugliness. Lack of safety is not believed. An earthed wire is run above the
HV 3-phase and does a good job of providing a low impedance path for
lighting. One side of the HV to LV transformer is earthed as well as the
center tap of the secondary (Neutral). The neutral is again earthed at the
service entrance as is one end of the green wire running unimpeded to every
human touchable conductor. Additionally, the house wiring is run at half
the voltage common in Europe. Plugs and receptacles are standardized, which
makes almost certain the appliances are properly connected. (In the UK it
appears that appliances are sold without a plug and rely on the consumer to
do the right thing.)

You have so well said, in effect, that every group of people have a
different set of values that they place on things. If the money is
available, the system in the Netherlands is invisible, flexible (with
3-phase ready when needed), and with the use of the equivalence of a green
wire only diminished in safety from the NA system by using twice the
voltage.

Indeed, if I were planning the electrical distribution system for a research
laboratory, I would seriously consider using the Netherland scheme with half
the voltage.

Afraid VHF will not reach to the Netherlands. Warm regards and thanks,
Mac N8TT

"Rob" wrote in message ...

J. C. Mc Laughlin wrote:
Dear Rob: That is amazing. Very forward thinking. However, it seems to
use a lot of copper, some of which is latent waiting to be used. On the
other hand, the cost of running the 3 phase cable underground probably is
much more than the cost of the cable.

I would not be surprised if this system would be abandoned.
The operating companies of the electric grid have been changed from
state-owned into private companies, and we are already seeing the
deterioration resulting from such changes. This combined with the
high copper prices of today could surely mean that new connections
will be made single-phase.

In the North American scheme, most HV and LV cables are "in the air."
This
tends to minimize the cost of running the cable and, too often, advantage
is
taken of air-cooling to use what I believe to be wire that is too small.

We consider such systems ugly and unsafe. Even HV cables are sometimes
run underground, although this costs a lot of money. It is mainly done
in cases where residential areas have expanded to places where HV overhead
cables already existed.

Each of the disclosed systems has advantages and costs. It is fascinating
to see how different systems value the costs.

I think an important difference is "who is the decisionmaker".
Commercial companies tend to look only at costs, state-owned companies
tend to look more at environmental issues.

Thank you for expanding my knowledge. One wonders if you are a radio
amateur. 73, Mac N8TT

Yes I am, but I am not very active and only on VHF/UHF.


J. C. Mc Laughlin
Michigan U.S.A.
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